Most developers want to work on projects that have meaningful impact at their company, but not everyone gets the opportunity to work on business critical code right away. You’ll probably be tasked with fixing bugs and adding small features here and there when you’re just starting out, but if you work hard and can show that you are ready to take on larger projects then you’ll find opportunities to work on business critical code. 

What’s business critical code? Code that makes the business money. Code that keeps the wheels turning and the lights on. This is the part of the codebase that you want to work on, because your value increases significantly if you’re able to write or maintain business critical code. 

Do you want to be rewarded with job security and a higher salary? Figure out where the business critical code is at your company and position yourself as an expert in that area. 

Business critical code is typically the code business logic for the company. It’s their competitive advantage and their proprietary software that they’ve invested time and money into building. It’s not CRUD apps and forms. Business critical parts of the codebase require expert knowledge and often require historical context or a significant learning curve to get up to speed on how and why it works the way it does. 

Take some time this week to understand the different parts of your company and what codebases they use. Figure out which business units are critical to keeping the business running, and which ones are not. 

If you want to become invaluable to your employer, find the business critical code and do what you can to work on it. 

🔗 Additional Reading

• know how your org works (or how to become a more effective engineer) (copyconstruct.medium.com)

• How Can You Increase Your Value as a Software Engineer (tomastrajan.medium.com)